I was at a Book Off this morning and as I was rummaging around their old junk video game section I came across a copy of my new favorite Famicom game: Idol Hotline Nakayama Miho Tokimeki High School.I've never played this game and don't care if I ever do. Its still the best Famicom game ever made. Because its the only one that's got Miho Nakayama.
Actually I had never heard of Miho Nakayama before today. Because I was stupid and ignorant. Miho Nakayama was a big pop star and actress back in the 80s and 90s.
This game came out in 1987. Wikipedia tells me that Miho Nakayama was about 6 years older than me at that time. Er....of course she'd be 6 years older than me now too, but never mind about that. 1987 is what is important here.I would have totally had a crush on Miho Nakayama if I had seen this game in 1987. 1987 was a good year for me and crushes on teen pop stars. For ease of reference, I present here a year by year breakdown of girls I had crushes on in the mid to late 80s:
1984: Cindy Laupher (don't ask), Phoebe Kates (Gremlins, rowr);
1985: The pretty girl from the Goonies (not the one with the short hair. The other one), the brunette from Facts of Life;
1986: Alyssa Milano, the blonde girl from Facts of Life;
1987: Tiffany, Debbie Gibson.
1988: Malory from Family Ties.
I think Miho Nakayama would have fit in pretty good there, being a 1987 teen pop star herself like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Miho Nakayama is way better than Tiffany and Debbie Gibson though. I'm sorry, Tiffany and Debbie, I know you are both regular readers of this blog but it needed to be said. Miho just blows you both away.
Look at that 80s look she's got. Tussled bangs, high puffy collar. And there is even more Miho on the disk itself:
Look she's calling some guy on the A side. I wonder who???? Tee hee.
Ahem. Anyway, about the game. From what I've gathered from an excellent walk-through of the game at GameFAQs, this is an interesting one. Kind of a walk through adventure game where the game gives you phone numbers and you call and listen to a voice recording of Miho telling you stuff.Yup, that is right. You get to call Miho Nakayama in this game. And she smiles and talks to you on the phone, just like in these pictures. One word:
Dyn-o-mite.
If I had possessed this game as a kid, I would have called those numbers a lot. Kind of like Lisa in that episode of the Simpsons where she gets addicted to the Cory hotline. Our phone conversations would have gone something like:
Me: Hi Miho (giggle giggle).
Miho: (pre-recorded message plays).
Me: Bye bye, Miho (giggle giggle).
This would have been repeated ad nauseum.
Anyway, go buy this game, whoever you all are reading this (Miho? I'd like to think so). Just get it. It is great.
Postscript: Courtesy of Mark in the comments section, you also have to watch this original commercial for the game. Superb!
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Ha ha! I've read about this game before but never knew anyone who owned it. I know you said you don't care if you ever actually play it, but I hope you do play it at some point -- I want to hear how wacky/weird/whatever it is. Or just how bad it is :) Hey, at the very least you'll get to see more of Miho -- although I'm guessing it'll be in some strange, digitized form?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I had sort of heard there was some Teen idol game involving telephone calls for the FDS, but I didn't know much else about it until today.
ReplyDeleteI hope I can play it someday too, mainly because that would mean my quest to find an AC cable for my Twin Famicoms would have been succesful:)
Anyway, even if this game had some 80s pop star who wasn't as awesome as Miho (ie any pop star who wasn't Miho), this would be kind of a cool game to get. The notion of a phone-in video game is kind of neat. I would put this in the Beat Takeshi game category of oddball Famicom stuff.
Chortle! Good old 80's pop stars :P They're mostly a bunch of skanky hoes nowawdays :( I, too, had a big crush on Debbie Gibson (I even liked her music too), but one 80's crush of mine which endures to this day is Kylie (mmmm). I don't think she's very well known in the US/Canada though. Did/do you know of her?
ReplyDeleteI've definitely saw this game for sale at Super Potato in Akihabara. I always wondered what it was.
ReplyDeleteAlso, her music is ridiculously "Showa."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3wMztfFZwQ
From what I've read, there was actually a real hotline with her at some point. Well anyways, if you didn't get enough of Miho, here's the great commercial for the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g16Jahd5Yuo
ReplyDeleteNate - that video is awesome. Doesn't get much more 80s Showa retro than that!
ReplyDeleteMark - that CM is frigging amazing.
And I also read about there being an actual hotline. According to the Walkthrough of the game on GameFAQs, all the numbers are unfortunately now disconnected. Bummer.
Simon - Kylie Minogue? I've heard of her of course, but she wasn't on my crush radar back in the 80s. Probably would have been if I had known of her back in grade 5 or 6 though;)
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ReplyDeleteMmmm, Kylie :P Debbie Gibson was my number one for a few years until Kylie knocked her off and held the number one spot for many years. She's still in second place though and looks damn good for a 43 year old! Did you see my Top Five Kylie Photo Shoots? :P That Ms. Nakayama does look rather splendid though, I have to say...
ReplyDeleteLOL, yes. And 43? Sigh, the never-ending progress of time....
ReplyDeletegod, imagine the uproar if Nintendo released a game based on a pop star today. you'd be able to hear the whining from space. People in the 80s were lucky they didn't have the internet sometimes.
ReplyDeleteLOL, in Japan anything - even pop star video games - goes.
ReplyDelete